YOUR AD HERE

“Your Ad Here”, recent works by Shepard Fairey, comprises a broad array of mixed media works on canvas and paper, as well as screen prints, retired stencils, and Rubylith cuts. Building upon Fairey’s history of questioning the control of public space and public discourse, much of the art in “Your Ad Here” examines advertising and salesmanship as tools of propaganda and influence. One series in “Your Ad Here” portrays politicians like Reagan and Nixon as insincere salesmen wielding simple slogans that represent their true agendas when stripped of verbose demagoguery. Another series of works are paintings of Fairey’s Obey “Icon Face” in various urban settings usually reserved for advertising as the primary visual. These works showcase the power of images in the public space, and encourage the viewer to think of public space as more than a one-way dialogue with advertising, but as a venue for creative response. “Your Ad Here” means exactly that… not just THEIR ad here, but you can put YOUR ad here. Additionally, these cityscape paintings contextualize Fairey’s street art as an element integrated in an intentional composition. Some of the works in “Your Ad Here”, such as a group of retired spray-paint stencils demonstrate the simple and direct methods of art application that Fairey has used both in the street, and in his studio practice. All of the works in “Your Ad Here” whether they relate to advertising, politics, or music culture, celebrate art as a powerful tool of direct engagement and empowerment.